BJP-SP spar over communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday lashed out at the Samajwadi Party (SP) for levelling what it claimed were “unsubstantiated charges” against the party with regard to the communal tension in Uttar Pradesh.

Reacting to a statement from cabinet minister and state SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary that the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) had a hand in the communal clashes in the state, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said the comments were not only “baseless but also diversionary”.

“As in the past, the ruling party is trying to cover its misdeeds, incompetence and failure to maintain law and order,” said Pathak.

“Rajendra Chowdhary has alleged that the opposition is rattled by development work by Akhilesh Yadav and the people involved in recent communal violence are the ones that were behind the Muzaffarnagar riots… they have police, intelligence… why don’t they act,” he asked.

Uttar Pradesh in the past few days has been witness to communal clashes in at least ten districts. On September 28, a man was lynched by an angry mob in Dadri over for allegedly eating beef.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses the gathering during the 'Global Mobility Summit' in New Delhi, India, VOA

India began on Monday the first of five state elections to be held in coming weeks, important tests for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he plots a course that he hopes will ensure him victory in a general election due by May.

Voters in the central state of Chhattisgarh went to the polls on Monday to elect representatives for 18 of the state assembly’s 90 seats in a staggered poll complicated by logistical problems and left-wing guerrillas.

The state of about 26 million people has been ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2003, and he will be hoping to hold on to power.

“Some unholy people have handed guns to children who should have pens in their hands,” Modi told a rally in the state on Friday, referring to the rag-tag guerrillas battling government forces from forest hideouts. “They’ve finished the lives of our tribal children.”

Hundreds of election workers had to be flown in to remote polling stations by helicopter because of the danger posed by the rebels.

Modi called for voters to back his BJP and its vision of “development for all.”

The final phase of voting in Chhattisgarh, which is known for its coal, iron ore and bauxite reserves, will be on Nov. 20.

India’s Congress party President Rahul Gandhi displays documents as he accuses Narendra Modi’s government of buying 36 Rafale fighter jets from France’s Dassault at a highly inflated price, in New Delhi, India. VOA

The BJP was the preference of about 43 percent of voters in Chhattisgarh, 7 percentage points ahead of the main opposition Congress party, according to a survey released last week by the Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

Modi’s other big tests will be in the neighboring central state of Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP is slightly ahead of Congress, according to polls, and in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, where Congress is expected to emerge victorious.

A good performance by the BJP in the elections would help it deflect growing criticism over unemployment and a crisis in the countryside over falling farm prices and wages.

Modi Appeals For A Regional Front Against Terrorism, flickr

Elections will also be held for assemblies in Telangana in the south and Mizoram in the northeast.

The BJP has sent top leaders to campaign in Chhattisgarh, including Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand Hindu priest and the BJP chief minister in Uttar Pradesh state.